The Saudi-led coalition battling Yemen’s Houthis accused them on Wednesday of targeting Islam’s holy city Mecca, sparking outrage across the Muslim world.
The Houthis swiftly rejected as a “lie” Riyadh’s statement that it had shot down a drone heading towards Mecca, which attracts millions of pilgrims each year.
Fresh fighting between the Iran-backed Houthis and Yemen’s Saudi-backed government has dragged in the kingdom, with the Houthis declaring a maritime blockade on its ships in the Red Sea.
Last week, the Houthis seized control of the entirety of Yemen’s Red Sea coast and the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a vital artery for Saudi oil exports as the wider Middle East war chokes off the Strait of Hormuz shipping route.
“The claims about targeting Mecca are a worn-out lie that has been used before and no longer fools anyone,” Hazem al-Assad from the Houthi politburo wrote on X.
“I saw a few people panicking, running to the window to see what happened,” a Mecca resident who asked for anonymity told AFP.
“I think the alarm system creates panic… Life is normal in Mecca, and there have been previous incidents in Mecca so this isn’t the first one.”
Saudi Arabia accused the Houthis of launching attacks towards Mecca in an earlier conflict.
The Saudi coalition has vowed retaliation, saying that “the security of the Two Holy Mosques and the pilgrims is a red line.”
“The coalition will not hesitate to take the necessary and deterrent measures against the Terrorist Houthi Militia.”
Saudi Arabia had issued brief alerts on Tuesday over possible attacks in Mecca and across parts of the south.
“I won’t hide that we were scared,” a second Mecca resident, also speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP, “or you can say surprised”.
“Aren’t they Muslims? They’re targeting the holiest city. What’s inside to target?”
Mecca hosts a large number of security forces, responsible for crowd control and securing the holy sites, particularly during the annual hajj gathering.
During this year’s pilgrimage, the Saudi defence ministry released a video showing advanced air defence batteries positioned on the outskirts of Mecca.
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation — a bloc of 57 Muslim countries — condemned the “heinous attacks… against the city of Mecca and the Madinah region”.
Fighting flared in July when the Houthis, who have for years controlled swathes of northern Yemen, launched a large-scale offensive against government forces.
The conflict in the Arabian Peninsula’s poorest country has forced 82,000 people to flee their homes since the start of September, according to the United Nations.
Yemen’s permanent representative at the UN, Abdullah al-Saadi, said the government was fighting to restore “national institutions across every inch” of the country, and called on the international community to take action against the Houthis.
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